(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Fred Versluis)
   Pool-alignments European tournaments announced
Nederlands
 ATHENS (Greece) -
Last weekend, during the second Congress of WBSC Europe on Saturday (February 2) in Greek capital Athens, the pool-alignments were announced for this years European tournaments for both baseball and softball.
Also during the Congress, WBSC Europe was officially launched and an interim Executive Committee of the governing body was elected and installed.
Furthermore, the European Baseball Confederation handed out its annual Awards.
During the meeting of the Technical Commission on Thursday (January 31), the pool-alignments were determined for the European Baseball Championships.
In total, there will be five European Championships, including the first-ever European Championship Baseball Women.
Besides that, there also will be five Qualifying Tournaments for European Championships.
Reigning champion Netherlands will play in Group A of the 35th European Championship, A-Pool, which will be held September 7-15 in Bonn and Solingen (Germany).
In this Group, the Orange-squad meets the Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and the team that wins the B-Pool this year.
Playing in Group B will be Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy and Spain.
The top-five of this event will qualify for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which will be played September 18-22 in Bologna and Parma (Italy).
The first European Championship Women will be organized July 31-August 4 in Rouen (France) with the participation of the Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands.
...The Netherlands captured the European title...
...in 2016 in Hoofddorp (Netherlands)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
On August 7-11, Czech capital Prague will be the site of the second European Championship Under-23.
Playing in Group A are France, Germany, Great Britain and reigning champion Netherlands.
Playing in Group B are Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine.
The 13th European Championship Cadets U-15 will be played in Nettuno (Italy) on July 16-20.
France, defending champion Germany, Italy and Russia will meet in Group A.
Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Slovakia will face each other in Group B.
The 13th European Championship Juveniles U-12 will be played July 1-7 in Třebíč (Czech Republic).
Playing in Group A1 will be Belgium, France, defending champion Italy and the Netherlands.
Playing in Group A2 are the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Russia.
Group B1 is composed of Austria, Poland and Ukraine, while Group B2 is formed by Great Britain, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia.
There will be two European Championships in the B-Pool, which will both be played July 1-7 and serve as Qualifier for the A-Pool.
In Pool 1 in Trnava (Slovakia) Finland, Poland, Switzerland and Ukraine will play in Group A.
Belarus, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia will meet in Group B.
In Pool 2 in Blagoevgrad (Bulgaria), Bulgaria, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Russia and Serbia will participate.
The winners of the two Pools then will decide who will advance to the European Championship in Germany in September.
In Sundbyberg (Sweden), Pool 1 of the Qualifier European Championship Juniors U-18 will be played July 8-13.
Participating in this event will be Belgium, Israel, Sweden and Switzerland.
Pool 2 of the Qualifier will be organized in Miejska Gorka (Poland) with the participation of Austria, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
A week earlier, on Thursday, January 24, the group-alignments were announced for the European Cup Tournaments in baseball.
Dutch champion Curaçao Neptunus and L&D Amsterdam Pirate will travel to Italy early June to participate in the European Champions Cup, which will be held June 4-8 in Bologna.
Neptunus will play in Group A and meets Bonn Capitals (Germany), Pirati dei Rimini (Italy) and Rouen Huskies (France) in the preliminary round.
In Group B, Amsterdam Pirates meets UnipolSai Fortitudo Bologna (Italy), Deurne Spartans (Belgium) and Ostrava Arrows (Czech Republic) in the first round.
...The Netherlands captured the European title...
...in 2017 in Bollate (Italy)...
(© Photo: Fred Versluis) |
The tournament for the CEB Cup will be organized in Brno (Czech Republic), June 5-9.
A week later, June 10-15, Karlovac (Croatia) will host the tournament for the Federations Cup.
There will be two Qualifiers for the Federations Cup that both will be played June 10-15.
Pool 1 will be organized in Moscow (Russia), Pool 2 in Blagoevgrad (Bulgaria).
On Saturday (February 2), in Athens, the drawings of the pool-alignments for this years European Softball Championships.
Reigning European champion Netherlands will play in Pool C of the 21st European Championship, which will be held June 30-July 6 in Ostrava (Czech Republic) and Rybnik (Poland).
In the preliminary round, the Netherlands meets Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Russia.
Playing in Pool A are Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden.
Pool B is composed of Austria, Israel, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine.
Playing in Pool D are Croatia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece and Switzerland.
The six best countries will qualify for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which will be played July 23-28 at the site of UVV in Vleuten/Utrecht (Netherlands).
In Zagreb (Croatia), the 10th European Championship Softball Under-16 will be played on July 29-August 3.
In the preliminary round, reigning champion Netherlands will play in Pool D, meeting Poland and Ukraine.
The other Pools are as follows:
Pool A: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Great Britain and Israel
Pool B: Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Russia
Pool C: France, Italy, Slovakia and Turkey.
The 12th European Co-Ed Slowpitch Softball Championship is scheduled for July 15-20 in Budapest (Hungary) with the participation of eleven countries.
In Co-Ed Slowpitch, teams are mixed with male and female players.
The Netherlands, which participates for the first time, will play in Pool A and meets Austria, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Hungary, Serbia.
Playing in Pool B are Belgium, Bulgaria, reigning champion Germany, Ireland, Italy.
(February 2)
Related Article:
 WBSC Europe officially launched; CEB hands out Awards. (February 2)
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